My newfound appreciation for medical care does entail one significant and constant annoyance. That series of questions concerning exercise, which beings easily enough, do you smoke, do you drink.. no to both… and then they try to quantify something they just do not understand. How many times a week do you exercise? For how long? Well, the easy thing to tell them would be that I commute by bike each day to work, so 25 minutes/day. That they could relate to. But just try and explain that for “exercise” what you do are two 30 mile 2-hour rides with 30 minutes at 90% of your V02Max, and a third ride of 60 miles at a bit lower intensity.

It doesn’t translate. It would sound a bit arrogant to just tell them to write that I’m “off the chart” but, for their charts, I am. I could give them total watt hours, average power, weighted power, or Strava Suffer Score. I could give them watts/kg for a general view of my shape. But below are the guidelines they use, and for the life of me, I just can’t translate them very well-

Guidelines for Adults

The guidelines advise that:

Some physical activity is better than none. Inactive adults should gradually increase their level of activity. People gain health benefits from as little as 60 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.

For major health benefits, do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week. Another option is to do a combination of both. A general rule is that 2 minutes of moderate-intensity activity counts the same as 1 minute of vigorous-intensity activity.

For even more health benefits, do 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of vigorous-intensity activity each week (or a combination of both). The more active you are, the more you will benefit.

When doing aerobic activity, do it for at least 10 minutes at a time. Spread the activity throughout the week. Muscle-strengthening activities that are moderate or vigorous intensity should be included 2 or more days a week. These activities should work all of the major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders, and arms). Examples include lifting weights, working with resistance bands, and doing situps and pushups, yoga, and heavy gardening.

Maybe they should just use a Strava Suffer Score! Seriously, how should I answer their question, which demands a quantitative answer? Can’t they just look at my treadmill V02 data and write a waiver for me?

The photo has nothing to do with the title of this piece but shows one of my very rare rides that include Canada Road north of Jefferson.Not the usual Sunday ride; Kevin (my son, not the pilot) was off doing paint-ball with some friends he went to school with, so I checked with the other Kevin (the pilot) to see if he was going to be around. Yes, and best of all, he was going to be dead tired from a tough ride on Saturday!

Due to the fogged-in coast, we skipped my usual Sunday ride (OLH/Pescadero/Tunitas), choosing OLH/West Alpine instead. I’m still dealing with a bronchitis sort of thing so no great speed of Old LaHonda (24 something) but it was nice riding at a pace I could almost talk. And it was fun taking someone past the duck pond who’d never seen the turtles before.

West Alpine? Well yeah, it would have been nice to be breathing a bit more evenly; a couple times Kevin was pretty concerned about my hacking cough, but overall, it actually seemed pretty easy. I was expecting something more in the mid-50s than a 47-something. It was reflecting upon the West Alpine climb a few minutes later that I cam to th epiphany mentioned in the title.

What makes a great climb? What makes an epic mountain? Is it elevation, grade, distance? Easy to say it’s a combination of all three, but that’s not quite right. It’s what you do with that mountain. It’s how you (and others) personally relate to it. By itself, it’s just a road up a mountain. If that road never sees a bicycle, then it might as well not exist. If that road is used in racing and has been known to separate the wheat from the chaff, it becomes legend. Better yet, if it’s a road up a mountain that you regularly challenge yourself on, it become personal.

Not everything defined epic by being used in famous bike races becomes personal though. To tell you the truth, when I climbed the Izoard a few weeks ago, it didn’t reach out and challenge me. A beautiful climb, yes. But compared to Ventoux, the Tourmalet, Port de Bales or Sonora Pass, it’s just not that big a deal. But here’s the puzzle piece that I think pulls it all together. I wasn’t pushing myself on the Izoard (the guy I rode up it with kicks serious butt on the flats but doesn’t climb well). My perception of the Izoard is that it’s not as tough as Tunitas!

OK, getting back to the ride. After climbing West Alpine I rode north on Skyline, all the way to 92, then dropped down to Canada Road and back to Redwood City. Got blown around a lot on the descent on Skyline to 92; anybody who thinks their bike is unstable when riding that section, let me tell you, it’s not the bike!